Summary
- A brief look at color changes.
- Direction analysis of a short passage from the first Stand battle.
- Repeated, nested imagery in the first Stand battle.
This is more a set of organized notes than an analysis of direction: there is too much material, spread too broadly, without a clear focus. Still, it should also be accessible to readers with little background knowledge and can serve as an introduction. If you already know your stuff, you can treat it as a reference, so you can look things up easily later.
Now, let’s get started.
Selected staff for this episode:
Script: Yasuko Kobayashi
Storyboards: Hideya Takahashi
Episode direction: Hideya Takahashi
Chief animation director: Shunichi Ishimoto
Action director (action animation director?): Takahito Katayama
Animation directors: Kenji Yokoyama, Natsue Chibayama
1. A brief look at color changes
First, the opening sequence (OP). We finally get to see it in episode two, and its design follows a very clear pattern: essentially, the main team’s members appear one after another. In the first part, it is entrance → character silhouette filled with solid colors; in the second, entrance → Stand display.
Beyond the OP, there are plenty of examples of color changes in the Stand battles, too.
The JoJo series has always had a distinctive use of color. Here, though, I’m just sampling some colors, with almost no analysis. Once I’ve learned enough about this, I’ll put together a more systematic analysis of color in the series.
After making one comparison image, I realized how much work it was, so I’ll leave the others for now. I’ll just discuss this pair, starting with the colors within each image—those seen at the same time. In both images, the hues form roughly an isosceles triangle on the color wheel: a three-color harmony. Saturation values differ considerably, but both images use a color with relatively high saturation to draw attention to key areas—the chest in image one, and the skin and clothing in image two. The brightness values in image one are all quite close, probably to create a sense of realism under the same lighting conditions. Image two does not take this into account, nor does it need to.
That covers the comparison within each image. Now for the comparison across time—that is, between the two successive images. The hue of each corresponding area changes by at least 166°, a very large difference. Saturation and brightness show no consistent pattern of change, probably because there was no need to consider those aspects either.
Incidentally, each character in the OP is filled with just three flat colors—not counting colors that differ only slightly. The exception is Pannacotta Fugo: his clothes aren’t visible, so he has only two.
Next come the color changes in the Stand battles—something of a JoJo specialty by now.
The colors change as soon as the Stand battle begins. The hues clearly shift considerably, and brightness drops, but I haven’t sampled the colors for a detailed analysis, so I won’t say more here.
The earlier darkening seems to help this moment stand out by contrast. After the hit, the colors return to normal, even taking on a slightly overexposed look. Also, notice the blur and slight outward-radiating distortion in the area to Bucciarati’s left in image three. These seem intended to convey his consciousness going into overdrive and the force of the blow.
The image returns to normal, losing the overexposed look and the blur around the edges. Incidentally, I really like the direction here: the expanding ripples carry the color change across the image.
2. Direction analysis of a short passage from the first Stand battle
This is the first time Giorno has used Gold Experience to hit someone, and neither he nor the audience knows exactly what it does. The sequence uses the change in outside light as the tram emerges from beneath the bridge as a cue, hinting that we are about to see Gold Experience’s effect. In the color discussion above, I mentioned the change after Bucciarati is hit by Gold Experience for the second time. There is actually a change here too, though it is less obvious and could be attributed to the change in the external light source. But look closely and you’ll notice that the lower-left image is distinctly darker, which is not what you would expect from more sunlight. This hints that Gold Experience’s effect involves changing perception or time or the environment, rather than something as directly apparent as destruction.
After Bucciarati takes a punch, Gold Experience’s effect ends. What this shot of the tram is doing is now quite clear: the earlier dark, bluish coloring visibly returns to normal, echoing the previous color change.
3. Repeated, nested imagery in the first Stand battle
Bucciarati has a tooth knocked out, and Gold Experience’s effect ends.
This sequence accompanies Bucciarati’s internal monologue as he is struck. It starts with a close-up of his eye, moves in toward the pupil, then pulls back to a medium shot of Bucciarati and Gold Experience. What makes this interesting is that the shot is initially trained on Bucciarati’s physical body, yet the reflection in his eye would have to be what Bucciarati’s consciousness sees (see the separate image above). And judging by where the tooth flies out, the sequence seems intended to show that the action continues directly from what came before.
My own inference is that this conveys the overlap of two views—the view from Bucciarati’s body and the view from his consciousness—as his consciousness returns to his body. It also fits neatly with the words of his internal monologue. The tooth is both the focus of Bucciarati’s vision and a visual link connecting the preceding and following shots. There is also the way the pupil changes from the main subject of the image into its background, then turns into the background in the lower-left image, before the normal tram interior dissolves back in. On the one hand, this makes for a smooth transition; on the other, the purple-black background corresponds to his thoughts. Just as that background disappears, Bucciarati’s internal monologue ends.
Source editor’s note: I learned something! Looking forward to Suyin’s next analysis. I can’t tag his account in the body of the post, so I’ll try in the comments or a status update.
